A higher education can lead to plenty of success in life. However, the cost of education can be difficult to deal with. Luckily, there are educational grants that are available to go towards this cost. There are a variety of education grants available but four popular federal options are:

• Pell Grant
• SMART Grant
• Academic Competitiveness Grant
• TEACH Grant

Pell Grant

This is one of the most popular opportunities when it comes to educational grant assistance. In fact, it is the largest provider of student grants for postsecondary education! The funds from these grants can help undergraduates in financial need. If you are interested you will need to provide eligibility by:

• Proving FInancial Need
• Being Enrolled in School
• Having a Qualifying Cost of Attending School
• Being Enrolled Year-Long as a Student

These are some of the most important factors that will determine if you are able to receive up to $6,495 in Pell Grant funds.

SMART Grant

The SMART Grant stands for the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant. This education grant can help third-year and fourth-year students who are in an eligible STEM field or those that are in an in-demand foreign language. The most that this grant option can provide is up to $4,000.

Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant

This grant can help first-year and second-year students who have a “rigorous” high school background get the financial assistance they need. This is a hybrid of need-based and merit-based assistance. Recipients must be a Pell Grant recipient, be enrolled full time in either a two-year or four-year program, and have a maintained GPA of at least 3.0. The most amount of money that this grant can provide is up to $750 for first-year students and up to $1,300 for second-year students.

TEACH Grant

This is a popular grant assistance option for students that have decided to become teachers. The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grant can provide students up to $4,000 so long as they agree to teach in areas that are considered high-need after graduation.

Other Federal Education Assistance Opportunities

Grants are a great option to consider, especially because they do not need to be repaid. However, there are other education assistance options that you can consider that can still help with the cost of education like:

• Work-Study Programs
• Federally Backed Loans
• Tax Benefits

If you do not qualify for any forms of federal educational assistance then you may not be out of luck. Just because you don’t qualify for assistance from a federal level doesn’t mean you are unable to get assistance from either a local or state level! Make sure to check available opportunities because you still may be able to get help.